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Warfare Prayer Psalm 18:1-3 (KJV) “I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.2The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 3I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.” What is the first thought in your mind? The Lord’s warriors love Him with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. That love is proven through many strong testings until no doubt remains. Then He divides the spoil with them. “The Lord is my strength.” It is not until we are allowed to come against the enemy that we appreciate what it means to have the Lord as our strength. We are tough when it comes to survival. But until the Lord becomes our strength we aren’t anything. No amount of strength, determination or zeal is sufficient unless it is in the strength of Christ. If we wait on Him, He renews us by making His strength our strength. It is one thing to be saved, it is another to learn the ways of the Spirit. No one will be saved by his or her own strength. The ability to wait on God is the evidence of our TRUST in the Lord. The world is in a state of constant change. The wicked are continually forcing their hand to keep us on guard. There is no lasting peace to the wicked or to those who are partial to the wicked. There is no rest or quietness in the souls of those who put their trust in the world. God’s warriors are not changed by every action of the world if the Lord is their Rock. As the Lord is, they cannot be moved. (Psm.16:8; 46:1-5; 62:5-6; Pro.12:3) If the Lord is before you, hand in hand If you remain in the river of God If your expectation comes from God If you maintain a disciplined and righteous life If the Lord is your Rock Are you bold in times of trouble? Do you fear the Lord enough? How do you know? If we are doing these things, the Lord says we will not be moved nor fear. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear the Lord and delivers them (Psm.34:7) from every situation. The ones who do not fear the Lord enough will fear the devil. Where is your trust? (Psalm 34:19) The Lord will always, always deliver us from bondages of sin and self-seeking, and from any enemy — no matter what — if we put our trust in Him. Are we calling sin, sin in our life? It will determine our degree of deliverance. God’s warriors do not walk in known sin!! It is not a sin to be sick. Sometimes Warriors get sick (2 Timothy 4:20). Yes, it is God’s will that His Saints be healthy. We are not to cease trusting God for total deliverance. But healings come as we march on in righteousness, holiness and obedience to Christ. God is our strength. It takes years of walking in Christ to know this experientially. Anything we do in our strength is a loss for Christ. But all that is done in His strength is eternal. When we recognize this, we come into His rest – which is trusting the Lord every day of our lives. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world (I Jn.5:4). It produces perfect trust and matures us. By learning to trust Christ in every instance, we will overcome no matter what. (Isaiah 12:2) The Warrior trusts in the Lord, not in his own strength to fight. The Lord is a shield (buckler). The enemy shoots fiery arrows at us all day long. If we become careless, let down our guard, these arrows enter our souls and set us on fire – dread, hatred, fear, worry, bitterness, burn within us. A soldier of Christ does not entangle himself with the affairs of the world, for that exposes you to the enemy. Instead, he stays alert at all times (prayer). His shield is the Lord, anointed with the Holy Spirit. When the fiery arrows strike, they do no damage because the warrior is prepared, prayed up and has the wisdom of the Spirit as His guide. Come out of the world and live as a Warrior of Christ and you will not go down in defeat. The Lord is my “horn.” Animals use their horns in order to fight. The horn is an offensive weapon. That horn is your weapon when you pray through by pressing on until the forces of Hell give way. Satan does not fear Churches or what they do — until they are led by the Spirit of God through prayer. Christians have become too busy today to spend time calling on the name of the Lord and looking to Him for the victory. They are living in their own strength; so when the battles come, they have not developed their horns of salvation. And the enemy does not flee. If the enemy can keep you from becoming one with Christ, he will always have an avenue in your life to keep you in defeat. But the scripture teaches that we shall be one in Christ when Christ is dwelling in us in His fullness. When that time comes, the enemy is finished, he is placed under our feet. But it won’t happen until we know how to do spiritual battle and become as Christ Jesus. The Lord is our high tower. When we are born again, our new inner man is raised in the Spirit to the right hand of God. As we walk in obedience to the Spirit, the Lord begins to hide us in Christ. And we will walk in obedience as we keep our hearts on things above and not on things of the earth. Our body and soul are on earth. Our spirits are in the heavenlies because God has become our high tower. It is in the heavenlies that the will of God is being done. When we walk in obedience, that same will is accomplished on earth. And it happens through warfare praying. If we are faithful in the battle, then the victory is given to us in this realm. Because we are already in heaven at God’s right hand, the victory is ours. But if we remain and react in the flesh, we go down in spiritual and/or physical defeat. (Colossians 3:3-4) “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” How high are you this day? The challenge is to get where He is – that is the victory. It does not matter how sophisticated your life becomes; if you do not continue to call upon the Lord, who is worthy, you will lose sight of the Lord. Man will ascend the throne and the Lord will move off. The way of Antichrist is being prepared right now more than you can imagine. Without union to Christ, you become a candidate to the false prophet and Antichrist. We do not gain power to cast out devils, heal the sick, exercise faith, and become wealthy. We gain power to be saved from our enemies. The Warrior knows how to call upon the name of the Lord in simple faith. The conflicts will continue to increase. At some point all that we know comes into question. If we don’t know the Lord, we will be defeated. It is enough to know how to call upon the name of the Lord. When He receives the glory and praise for our life, every need is met. When we faithfully call on the Lord, He saves us from every enemy (stronghold). -Pr. Steve July Newsletter 2002 | Warfare Prayer | The Fear Factor part 1 of 2 Pastor's Journal July 2001 | Keeping Honor part 1 of 2 | The Jaundiced Eye part 1 of 3 |
Biblical Counseling for Leaders
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